Child’s Cardigan in Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 85 - S9050

Child's Cardigan in Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 85 – Pattern S9050

This free downloadable knitting pattern (Design S9050) from Schachenmayr provides full instructions for a charming child's cardigan worked in the brand's popular Merino Extrafine 85 yarn. The design is rated intermediate in difficulty and is sized for children in three size ranges: 110/116, 122/128, and 134/140, making it a versatile project for knitters who want to create a practical yet decorative garment for school-age children.

What Is Being Made

The finished project is a children's cardigan featuring a structured body with ribbed cuffs and hem, bold colorwork panels, and a button band fastened with six decorative buttons. The cardigan is constructed in separate pieces — back, fronts, and sleeves — and finished with a crochet hook for edgings and button loops. The overall aesthetic is playful and colorful, with stranded Jacquard motifs adding visual interest across the yoke and body sections.

Techniques Used

• Flat knitting in rows – The cardigan pieces are worked back and forth in rows, with every row beginning and ending with a selvedge (edge) stitch for neat seaming.
• Stranded Jacquard colorwork – Three separate Jacquard chart patterns (referred to as Zählmuster A, B, and C) are worked in the round-chart technique, reading right-to-left on right-side rows and left-to-right on wrong-side rows. Each chart is worked once through its full row count: Chart A over 17 rows, Chart B over 10 rows, and Chart C over 9 rows.
• Ribbing (Bündchenmuster) – A ribbed border of approximately 4 cm (9 rows) is worked at the lower edges using the smaller needle size to create a neat, elasticated finish.
• Decreasing – Stitches are decreased in the first plain row after the ribbing by working pairs of stitches together (every 5th and 6th stitch) to shape the body panels correctly for each size.
• Crochet finishing – A 5 mm crochet hook is used for finishing edges and creating button loops, adding a tidy border to the front bands.
• Seaming and assembly – Pieces are sewn together using a blunt-tipped wool needle after blocking.

Stitches Used

• Stockinette stitch (Glatt rechts) – The main fabric stitch, worked by knitting all stitches on right-side rows and purling all stitches on wrong-side rows. This forms the smooth, flat background of the cardigan.
• Ribbing (Bündchenmuster) – Used for the welts and cuffs to provide stretch and structure at the garment edges.
• Jacquard / stranded colorwork stitches – Stockinette stitch worked with multiple colors simultaneously, following charted motifs (Charts A, B, and C) to create decorative patterned bands across the garment.
• Selvedge stitches (Randmaschen) – Single edge stitches worked at the beginning and end of every row to facilitate clean seaming.

Colorwork and Color Palette

The cardigan uses a rich, coordinated palette of four colors from the Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 85 range:

• Aubergine (Fb 00249) – The primary background color, used for the main body sections.
• Pink (Fb 00237) – An accent color introduced in the colorwork rows and Jacquard panels.
• Pflaume / Plum (Fb 00246) – A deeper tone used in the Jacquard motifs and transitional stripe rows.
• Anis / Anise (Fb 00274) – A fresh, light contrast color featured in the charted motifs.

The interplay of these four shades creates a lively, multi-tonal Jacquard effect that is characteristic of traditional European